Maybe you think of LinkedIn as primarily an online resume, or a database of potential employees. Take it one step further — LinkedIn is rapidly emerging as a vehicle for demonstrating expertise and thought leadership, through displaying content that an individual has developed.

Before going further, let me say that I have no relationship with LinkedIn, other than having my profile listed there.

The idea of LinkedIn as content vehicle works in three ways:

Your personal profile should display content that you have developed, to show the expertise in your work.

In many cases (think business professional firms and tech start-ups) clients come to a company largely because of the expertise it offers — and will be more likely to trust in this expertise if its principals show that they are credible thought leaders. So, it benefits the company if its star employees demonstrate their thought leadership through an impressive LinkedIn profile.

Company pages are a good way to provide content through status updates that link to white papers, articles, videos, eBooks, and other evidence of the organization’s thought leadership.

Take, for example, a clothing manufacturer that sources sustainably-farmed fiber from a community in central Africa, and wants to show that it ”gives back” to the community. Its development projects must be well run and must genuinely improve the lives of people who provide the fiber it uses.

So, the company hires someone, I’ll call her Noella, who is an acknowledged content authority on trade-not-aid sustainable development. To avoid being accused of greenwashing, it needs to show that Noella is a well-regarded expert in her field who is acknowledged by her peers to be an authority on current best practices.

Enter Noella’s LinkedIn profile.

If Noella is like many of us, when you Google her name, her LinkedIn profile is the first result that comes up. That makes it important. So, let’s scroll through what should be on a thought leader’s LinkedIn profile.

Start with Noella’s headline, appearing right below her name. Any really significant piece of content she’s developed (such as a book she’s authored on sustainability) should be mentioned here. LinkedIn offers 120 characters, so use them.

Noella’s summary should mention her accomplishments: professional papers and articles she’s written, books she’s authored or contributed to, and other evidence of thought leadership in her field.

The Update section near the top of her profile should be renewed frequently — once a week or a few times a week, if possible. Here, Noella could place a link to the latest entry in her blog, or to articles she’s written, or to mentions of speeches she’s given. This will demonstrate that she is continuing to move her profession forward, through the knowledge and advice she provides.

Many LinkedIn users might not be aware that in their summary box near the top of their profile, under “Websites,” they can insert links to up to three sites. If they click on “other,” they can insert custom wording that invites action, such as“Subscribe to my blog” or “Follow me on Twitter.”

Speaking of Twitter, further down the profile page is an iconic blue bird graphic. DO NOT use it:It’s considered bad practice to integrate a Twitter feed with a LinkedIn profile. Twitter is for sheer volume of flow, and LinkedIn is about quality (as opposed to quantity). The often-quoted statistic is that only about 16 percent of the population is on Twitter. The rest won’t appreciate a Twitter-scale volume of updates landing in their email inboxes. In some cases, I’ve had to “hide” (LinkedIn-speak for ‘un-follow’) people on LinkedIn, because of the flood coming in from their Twitter. This action also means their LinkedIn updates won’t be sent to me, which could be to their disadvantage if I’m in a position to reach out with a business opportunity. (UPDATE: As of June 29, 2012, Twitter no longer integrates with LinkedIn.)

Noella can (and should) add a dedicated section on her profile for her Publications. This is one of those little-known “Add Sections” aspects of LinkedIn, and it can be used to describe and provide links to articles, books, eBooks, white papers, etc. If Noella authors a new article, for example, she should mention it in her Updates but should also note it in Publications. The reason for this is that the Update will be replaced when Noella shares newer information, but the Publications section will still carry the mention, continuing to add evidence of her credibility.

The Reading List section is also a way to show thought leadership. Staying up-to-date on developments is important in maintaining professional currency, and LinkedIn’s arrangement with Amazon makes it easy to display the covers of recently-read books. Noella can show further thought leadership by writing thoughtful reviews of any relevant books she’s read.

SlideShare’s integration with LinkedIn offers an additional way to show thought leadership. A stand-alone slide show is an increasingly popular way to provide information on a narrow, focused topic — particularly one that lends itself to graphic representation.

You may not realize that you can click-and-drag to move chunks of your LinkedIn profile around to create a customized profile layout. This allows you to present key sections of your profile at the top, where searchers will be more likely to see it. For example, if Noella is a recent university graduate, it would be best to have her “Education” section near the top, while If she’s had time to develop impressive work credentials, her “Experience” section should get top billing.

Thanks to my colleague Anita Windisman (@AnitaWindisman) for her guidance on helping build my own LinkedIn profile, and for some of the ideas in this post.

Author: Carl Friesen

Carl Friesen uses his background in journalism to dig for “the story” to develop content that will show his clients in their best possible light. Many of his clients are business professionals who need to show their expertise to people in their market. Carl is Principal of Global Reach Communications, based in the Toronto, Canada area. You can follow him on Twitter @CarlFriesen.

LinkdIn certainly helps getting most targeted traffic to your website and on LinkdIn its easier to demonstrate your expertise in very professional manners. Thanks for sharing very informative and detail article. 😉

http://www.oneofakindmarketing.com/ Anita Windisman

Great article Carl!

Scott Frangos

Hi Carl –

Excellent tips. Slideshare is really a good angle to both educate prospects and show work samples. See you in Columbus?
– Scott

Bruce Bixler

Hi Carl, LinkedIn put Twitter there for a reason that is to leverage two social media platforms. If you go to your settings page then scroll down to manage your Twitter settings and check the box that says:

Share only tweets that contain #in (#li also works) in your LinkedIn status.e.g. “Working on a blog post about increasing meeting productivity #in”That will solve your flow of tweets to your profile updates, and it will limit you to only certain tweets that go to LinkedIn.

http://whatbillthinks.com Bill Bean

Helpful reminder, Bruce.

Helpful article, Carl. Going to make some changes to my profile now.

http://www.showyourexpertise.com Carl Friesen

I learned that the original of this article contained an error,
regarding the inclusion of content such as videos and white papers to
company pages on LinkedIn. The people at CMI corrected it right away after I
notified them.

Bruce, thanks for the input on Twitter. I’ll check that out.

My view is that LinkedIn-as-vehicle-to-show-expertise is most useful for people who need to stand out and get noticed as thought leaders. One aspect I didn’t cover in the blog post is how a content-rich LinkedIn profile can help not just to gain new clients, but retain existing ones. If you’re linked to your clients, they’ll get a notification whenever you list a new publication, speaking engagement or other evidence of your expertise. This reassures them that they’ve made a wise decision in continuing to rely on your services, rather than those of a competitor. It’s always better to keep an existing client than to search out new ones.

http://twitter.com/joannearama Joanne Morrison

Hey Carl, great article. I’ve recently been tasked with providing a LinkedIn training session for the sales team at my company so I’ll definitely be using your tips!

http://tribmag.com/ Charles McNamara

You folks have a way of nailing a subject on the head. Every time. Great list of articles. I am glad I subscribed.

http://www.oneofakindmarketing.com/ Anita Windisman

Effective Friday June 29, 2012:
Tweets will no longer be displayed on LinkedIn.

Great post! I wasn’t aware that you can drop and drag sections of your LinkedIn profile.

Rachel

http://humanwebsite.com.my/ Kent

Don’t worry about the Twitter, it is not connected now with Linkedin. But I do agree, slideshare and box.net are the powerful to show your expertise. I uploaded seo, social media marketing checklist to box.net to show my expertise!

http://www.showyourexpertise.com Carl Friesen

LinkedIn is a constantly changing environment (such as, they removed the Reading List! Why??!!!) and it’s important to stay current with what they offer. But it works. As an independent consultant, I look for ways to boost my professional profile, and LinkedIn is good for that. My website managers tell me that 17 percent of the traffic to my business website (showyourexpertise.com) comes in through my LinkedIn profile. And, guest blogging on CMI helps too — seven percent of my traffic comes through CMI. Having a content-rich LI profile, updated weekly or so, is a good way to build traffic. Sure it takes time, but for many people who need to build a professional profile, it’s worth while.